Before Now
by Caffeine Induced
Summary: [NOT COMPLETED] Raven has just escaped her father's dark realm and seeks a way to lock him out permanently. Along the way she'll meet a few solo heroes who might just be able to help if she lets them-and if they don't lock her up first. See, she isn't exactly a hero. And Nightwing has his sights set on capturing the Black Bird of Terror. [Rated T for mild language]
1. Chapter 1 Raven

**Chapter 1**

 ** _Raven_**

Raven dreams of fire, and it follows her into the world. Roaring red flames consume everything in a five foot radius. Instead of heat, the flames spread the frosty cold rage of her father.

A simple swipe of her hand and the flames snuff out. Trails of gray smoke curl toward the high ceiling. The floor is marred but it doesn't matter. This abandoned theater she has taken temporary refuge in has done its duty and sheltered her for the day.

Raven picks up her cloak she was using as a pillow and shakes it off before swinging it over her shoulder. The heavy garment is fashioned in the style of Azarath. She's not sentimental by any means, but when she wears it, it helps her remember what she's working to stop.

For now, Trigon can do nothing more than torment her while she sleeps. Unfortunately, if what he says is true, others will come for her. If he can't scare her back he will have her bought by force. Trigon is not one for idle threats.

No matter. If tonight goes as planned, he'll never be able to reach her again. Not even in her dreams.

"Conquer your own worlds," she says aloud. "I'm done doing it for you."

The Sun City museum is nothing special. Its rather small and very unpopular with the locals and tourists. You will fin nothing here you havent seen anywhere else, except for one thing.

It has taken weeks for Raven to track the artifact down. Chasing one lead to another before one woman final confirmed she sold the artifact to the curator of this museum.

The museum will be open for another hour and all of two other people are present. In an effort to blend in, Raven takes off her cloak and drapes it over her arm. She also takes the extra effort of making her eyes flush away their demon red in exchange for semi-human amethyst.

Thirty minutes pass and Raven has scoured every display and every damned information center. If the artifact is not on display then it's in a vault.

Three options. One: go looking for the vault after closing, threaten a guard or two, minimal damage. Two: find vault right now, get in and out before watchers call authorities. Three: give in to her father's demands.

Soon after closing, she reaches out with her senses and pinpoints the location of the four people inside.

She debates the pros and cons of teleporting inside. It's taken her weeks to track the item here and she has been careful not to use any abilities that can identify her to the authorities.

She had a slight disagreement with the Justice League. Best they don't connect her to the excursions she's been on.

Raven pulls up her hood and grins, fully aware that she maybe shouldn't enjoy this. The anticipation makes her red eyes glow.

With a predatory snarl, she steps on the glass of the sun roof and shatters it, flying down with the glass. Two men are posted in this front room.

"My God," one of them says.

"What the hell is that?"

Raven can only imagine what she must look like. The cloak conseals her entire form so all they see are red eyes under a hood.

Fear and shock rolls off of them and she inhales it, relishing. Her finger nails turn to talons with her say so and extending a single hand she knocks them back into the wall, knocking them unconscious. Maybe killing them.

She follows the life force of another deep inside and thus finds the location of the vault. She immobilizes the woman there.

The lights above them flicker and spark out with energy Raven sends their way. The woman doesn't say a word, probably in shock.

"Open it," Raven growls.

The woman nods. Raven releases her and with a shaking hand she swipes her card and punches in a code. The door groans open and Raven steps inside.

The woman flees but Raven pays her no mind. The woman didn't see her face and she'll be long gone before back up arrives.

Inside the vault are all of seven glass shelves loaded with valuables Raven doesn't care for. She ignores everything that doesn't sparkle.

Thirteen jewels. Three are red. None are the one she wants.

A few of the items shatter with her anger. She steps out of the vault crunching on glass. She strides down the hall and everything that can shatter does.

The curator knows she's coming before she reaches his office. The windows rattle and the air crackles.

He tries to run, he doesn't get anywhere but pinned against the wall by a seething wall of black energy.

Air stirs and drops Raven's hood. It doesn't make her any less terrifying. "Three weeks ago you bought an artifact unearthed in the Egyptian deserts. Where is it?"

"Wha--what? Oh, no. P--p--please don't hurt me!"

Raven marginally tightens the black energy around him. "Focus," she says in a monotone voice at odds with her blazing red eyes. "Where is the stone? The red stone."

"I sold it!"

She squeezes again and something pops.

"Ah!" He sobs. "I paid a lot for that stone, it had a lot of stories around it. My experts told me it was worthless. It wasn't even a ruby like I was told!"

"Who was the buyer?"

"I don't remember. Please, please, please. I don't remember!"

Sirens blare outside.

"Don't kill me," he pleads.

Raven growls. She'll have to dive into his mind to find the information she wants.

"Think back to that day," she commands. It will be easier to find at least. Human minds are always a jumbled mess.

Before she can do anything but command him, the door flies open. In a split second she decides there's no time.

A simple thought and she snaps his neck.

"Don't move!" One of the cops shouts.

She doesn't turn to see how many. Instead she jumps out the third story window. One of them shoots at her.

For three whole seconds, she forgets to fly. She slows her fall at the very end but lands heavy on her right leg. She swears she hears the bone snap. The pain contends.

Gritting her teeth she flies up, well out of sight before teleporting to the only place she can think of. Back to the theater she nearly burned down.

"Temporary home," she mutters.

Parting her cloak, Raven leans down to get a look at her ankle. It hasn't started swelling yet and nothing looks obviously out of place. Maybe just a fracture.

Steeling herself, she leans against a wall and slides down with her ankle carefully outstretched to not get jostled. Once she's settled she puts a hand on either side of her ankle and closes her eyes, identifying the injury and healing it.

The healing hurts more than fracturing it did, mostly because healing takes longer. She's endured far worse though. After five years in her father's realm this is nothing.

"This is a mess," she says to herself.

The cops will be all over the museum now and she still has no name. The curator had to have kept records but she'll need to get in and out without being seen which means going in broad daylight.

Humans always think nothing bad happens during the day. They think the sun can scare away monsters. How wrong they are.


	2. Chapter 2 Nightwing

**Chapter 2**

 ** _Nightwing_**

The best thing about owning your own business is getting to go in whenever you want. As a crime-fighting vigilante, Richard's one-man P.I. business is not only convenient, but necessary.

After an entire night of searching for his criminal, he found zip. For a low-level drug dealer, Deathstroke is a hard man to find. If Richard wants to keep that new drug from hitting the streets of Jump City, he'll have to find him before the end of the week.

Exhausted, he contemplates weather he should shower or sleep. In the end, showering wins so he puts on a pot of coffee that's finished brewing by the time he comes back out.

The floor to ceiling windows show the sun just beginning to rise over the buildings. By day, the city is for the workers and upstanding citizens. It's the night life that prompted him to comes here. Jump city is his very own Gotham.

He flips on the TV to a news station while he sets to work making a large breakfast.

"In other news, there was a break in at the Sun City Museum last night. Authorities say nothing was taken but the curator has been killed and authorities have yet to capture the attacker. Unconfirmed reports reference the Black Bird of Terror as being the one responsible for the break in and murder. This is the first anyone has heard of this cloaked man since his abrupt disappearance from Star City less than a week ago."

Dick pauses and looks at the screen. A blurry image of a large bird made entirely of black is shown soaring through the sky. Nothing distinguishable. Dick has heard of this guy. Showed up out of the blue a few weeks ago. Wherever he's sighted, a body soon follows.

As a percaution, Dick has kept track of his movements should he ever come to this city. There's nothing much to know. No one has a description of him and all police reports are vague. From what Dick gathers, this guy is a meta human. Abilities include telekinesis, flight, and energy manipulation.

Sun city isn't far from here. If that man steps foot in Dick's city, it'll be the last thing he does. As a side project, Dick decides to also devote time into finding out Black Bird of Terror's identity.

If he was at that museum, then the police must have footage of it.

For now he finishes breakfast then styles his hair and heads down to the station where he knows the police have caught a dealer who might know something Dick needs.

"Morning Dick,"the clerk at the front desk says. Behind him the many officers at crowded desks take interest in his arrival. "We haven't seen you around in a while, not since you quit the force."

Strictly speaking, Dick is eighteen. With the help of Bruce, he got a fake birth certificate marking him at age twenty one, which he needed to be in order to join the department.

Quiting was part of the plan. It helped him establish a working relationship with the department for whenever he might need their information, or in this case, a witness.

"Hey, is Al around?"

"Sure is, you can go on back, he's in his office."

Al is head of the local department. He works almost as much as Dick does which is probably why they get along so well. He would go as far as to say that they're friends but Dick has none of those.

Friends are a liability.

"Hey Al, I need a favor. I heard you've got a guy in custody from a drug bust. One of my clients has been looking for her brother and I thinks this guy is one of his buddies. Can I talk to him, see what he knows?"

"Sure, sure," Al says, waving his pen but not looking up from the report on his desk. "Tell Rita to show you the way."

"Thanks Al, if you ever want to find your ex-wife, you know who to call."

Al's laugh sounds like a bark. "That woman was crazy."

Rita shows Dick to the holding cell and they do him the favor of isolating him from the others so they can chat privately.

"We can move him into an interrogation room if you like."

"If just have a few quick questions, don't want to trouble you."

Rita heads off to do her work and Dick immediately drops the cheery smile on his face. "Deathstroke sent me."

The guy immediately pales. I didn't tell them nothing, I swear!"

"We have a problem then. See, the man we both work for was under the impression you don't know anything important to tell. Word is you're looking to cut a deal."

"No, that ain't true. I don't know nothing, okay? I pick up the shipments with the others but I don't look in the crates."

"I believe you, so I'm gonna go tell the boss you're not breaking and you're willing to do the time."

Dick makes a quick exit after that, convinced this guy knows a whole lot more than he's saying. Nightwing will have to pay him a visit tonight.

Until then, Dick goes through his duties as a P.I. and even looks into the attack at the museum. The video footage is limited, but it's the first clear footage they have of the Black Bird of Terror.

The face is never shown and the cloak conseals the figure beneath, but Dick notices something in the walk.

To confirm his suspicions he checks footage from before the attack, pausing it on a young womans face, no older than he is.

The Black Bird of Terror is a girl. Nothing but a serial killer who happens to be a meta human.

He collects the essential facts into an online folder and emails it back to the Sun City police. They will forgive him for hacking into their servers since he's given them a vital piece of information on their culprit. All they need to do is ID her and set up a tactical plan which shouldn't be too hard, especially if they get their own resident superhero to help--Cyborg.


	3. Chapter 3 Cyborg

**Chapter 3**

 ** _Cyborg_**

Rumor has it Cyborg is on the fast track to the Justice League. He's been contacted by them multiple times, but mostly cryptic messages about how they like the job he's doing in Sun City.

They say he has some growing up to do, but the time is coming when they'll give him a call. If Victor is being honest with himself, his anger is his biggest liability, but then again, his anger fuels him. It is the reason he does what he does.

Today is his self-dubbed day off, but he's not about to go ignoring a potential problem as it comes his way.

Dressed in a hoodie and sweats, he walks down the street on his way to a university football field. He likes to stop by on occasion and give the players a few tips for when they go pro. It used to make him angry to see people doing what he can't but since he's become a hero, it only makes him nostalgic.

Across the street and a ways down, a girl strides forward with purpose. She's wearing combat boots, fishnet tights under black high-waisted shorts, and a blue fitted shirt. All in all, an ordinary girl--except she's a monster.

His cybernetic eye sees what no one else can.

Her skin is a deep, blood red. She has two sets of eyes and talon like fingers, not to mention horns that sprout from her hairline, slick and black needle sharp points.

Cyborg ducks behind a trash can and, when he's sure she won't see him, follows her. She walk through busy streets and questionable back roads until she reach a building lined with yellow tape.

She doesn't falter, looking up at the window also decorated in yellow. She flies up and quickly breaks through the tape to slip inside.

Meta human.

Cyborg sprints around to the front of the building where he finds a single police officer posted.

"Yo, someone just flew into the building. Stay here and cover the front. Call back up."

"What are you talking about kid? Go ba--" The officer jolts, and scrambles to do as he's told as soon as he recognizes him.

Cyborg squints at the reflective windows. "Why is this place taped up?"

"There was a murder here," he tells Cyborg.

"She's involved somehow. We can't let her get away. She can fly so make sure you tell your buddies that when they get here."

Cyborg circles around the back, already knowing this may be pointless. No one will send a chopper after a girl who broke into a crime scene and there's no way he'll catch up on foot if she does take off.

 _Fight smarter_ , _Vic_ , he reminds himself. His football coach told him this if he ever let his emotions get the best of him during a game.

The police won't get here on time. He slams through the locked back door with ease and changes the sensor on his eye to detect body heat.

There!

Two floors up, at the end of the hall. He sprints up as quietly as he can manage. The door is busted open so the monster needs only to turn around to see him but she never does. She's digging through a filing cabinet, her sickening talons skimming every folder.

He inches forward and quickly presses himself against the wall beside the door. The rustling of paper continues so he peaks inside and she hasn't moved.

Carefully, he pulls out one of a handful of tiny trackers. They're modified from Batman's own design in order to be thrown and latch themselves on like velcro.

With perfect accuracy he flicks it at her back and it catches onto the rubber sole of her boot, behind her heel.

It thuds with sound only Cyborg can hear but she pauses in her actions anyway. He presses himself against the wall, ignoring the urge to simply go out and try to arrest her. He doesn't know enough about her yet. A monster like that must have more tricks up its sleeve than just flying.

Seconds pass and nothing happens. She mutters, "Slade Wilson. Got you."

In several quick steps she goes back to the window and Cyborg rounds the door frame in time to see her fly up and out of sight.

"Slade Wilson," he repeats, mentally telling himself to look into it.

Sirens pull up not long after and Cyborg steps out the the front door and is surprised by the amount of cruisers that have shown up.

"She flew off," he tells the man who seems to be in charge. "I managed to get a tracker on her. Looks like she's headed out of the city."

"And unfortunately out of our jurisdiction." The man in charge calls a command over the radio and everyone stands down. "Damn. We came as soon as we got the call. Choppers take a while to get clearance for but I had every officer in the area come."

"To be honest," Cyborg says, "I didn't think you'd bring this many people down for breaking and entering."

"We received some anonymous information about this case. She's wanted for a long string of murders up and down the coast. The officer at never got a loom at her."

He pulls a folded paper from the dash of the car. "This the girl you saw?"

"That's her alright. Serial killer?" Cyborg instantly regrets letting her go off without a fight. "I'm all over it."

"She's long gone by now," the man tells him. "but next time she shows her face we'll be ready. But it's like you said, she's headed out of town."

"I have no jurisdiction."

That monster is not going to get away so easy. He knows who she's after and he knows where she is.


	4. Chapter 4 Starfire

**Author's Note: Thanks for reading this story everyone--and a special thanks to AslieFlame and AnisYamamoto for being the first to review!** **The last chapter was shorter than normal so I made this one** a tiny **bit longer. Side note: Sorry for any misspellings and such, I sort of just post the chapters as soon as I finsh typing them because I'm so darn excited for you to read them!**

 **Okay, I'm done. Enjoy!**

 **Chapter 4**

 ** _Starfire_**

Starfire is crash landing, but she's not all that concerned. With the number of things that have gone wrong, she would have been surprised if something actually went right.

If she had to guess, she'd say everything went wrong the day war was declared against the people of her planet. It seems to only get worse as the years pass, and Starfire has maybe just reached the breaking point.

Nothing has ever coaxed a rage such as this from her before. Not the death of her parents, not the attack on her people, not her own enslavement and the things endured because of it.

She's not angry about her ship breaking apart around her. She is Tamaranian. This is _nothing_.

Only the still-fresh betrayal of her sister can bring this sort anger. She has lead a coo against Starfire and what's worse, the people sided with her.

It doesn't matter that is was Starfire who kept them strong and united through years of servitude. It doesn't matter that it was Starfire who lead the revolt and the reclaiming of their planet.

What mattered was that Starfire was weak. But it seems to her that there is a time fighting and there is a time for making allies--and Tamaran needed them, because loath as they were to admit it, they were still weak.

They got the planet back, but now they had to keep it. Starfire organized one peacetreaty after another. She planned weddings by the handful. She was going to fix everything.

Why could they not see that under Starfire's wise rule, they would have prospered?

Backfire prefers blood spilled over lives saved. She will lead their people back into despair and most of them heartily agree with her methods. It seems only Starfire can see the ruin it will bring.

They agreed with Blackfire so much that they lead Starfire, _their Queen and savior_ , to an execution. But Starfire is strong, and she did not get where she was by giving in to death so easily.

She fought free of them and stole a ship. She rode off that planet and has not slowed down since. But now she is out fuel, and out of time to think of what to do.

For now, she blows the top off her small ship and jumps out as it plummets into dark waters.

Undeterred by the dark, she follows the closest source of light and zips angrily through the sky, taking in the foreign buildings and people who can almost pass for Tamaranian except they are rooted to the ground and have muted skin tones and hair colors.

Maybe this will be home for a while. At least until her people beg to have her back.

 ** _Raven_**

Raven spends a good three hours flying over jump city before finally falling into angry defeat. How is she supposed to find a single man in this place? Especially when the only thing she's got to go on is a name?

"Screw this," she finally mutters.

She touches down on a street with no cars passing but many parked. The already dim yellow street lights seem to shrink away as Raven feels the emotion of another nearby.

Pausing, she tilts her head.

Someone in this city is very angry. It pulses and continually slams into Raven like physical blows. She almost feels sorry for whoever caused an anger so fierce.

On cue, a flaming figure comes into view overhead.

"Someone is going to die tonight," Raven muses, watching the girl pass with mild interest. If Raven actually finds who she is looking for, then at least two will.

To her left, she hears hushed voices.

In the realm of her father she quickly learned how valuable information is. Anything worth whispering about was worth her knowing. On that instinct, Raven turns a corner and then another to find two men beside a dumpster, money exchanging hands.

She scoffs. A drug deal. They are only human after all, so what else should she have expected? They never seem to care about anything of importance, and they certainly never *know* any thing of importance.

"The fuck?" the tall one with a beanie says. "You some kind of witch? You gotta pay for my shit, no matter who you are."

The shorter one with frizzy blonde hair slaps the other guy. "Nah, man. That's one of them vigilantes. Look man, don't you have something better to be doing?"

"I'm just trying to make a living here," the tall one adds.

Just then, from atop the dumpster, a rat leaps down and transforms mid-air, landing on two feet. Raven finds it mildly alarming she didn't sense the shapshifters presence in rat form. Her senses now tell her he is most likely human, save for the unfortunate green skin and hair.

Not that she's one to talk. A glimpse of her true form and these tiny humans would die of fright.

The shapeshifter turns his back on the two apparent criminals and says to Raven, "I was totally here first dude, I've got dibs!" He blinks and clocks his head. "Woah, that's a scary uniform. Going for a dark night type of thing? That's freaky. I tried that once but people mostly just laughed at me." He smiles, oblivious to the two men who have started retreating.

Raven's eyes are already red beneath the dark of her hood but she makes them glow just for the pleasure of seeing his terror.

"You should tone it down though, otherwise everyone will think you're . . . a . . . bad . . ." The shapshifters smile fades as he seems to realizes she's not on his side.

To her own surprise, Raven only feels surprise coming from him, not fear. He's either stupid or brave.

"Hey, that's cool," he says with a returning smile, "you can have them both. No need to get angry."

Raven is leaning towards stupid.

Pausing in her thoughts, Raven is struck by another thought. If this guy is a vigilante then he must have some sort of knowledge to give her about where she can start to look for this Slade Wilson.

She dims the glow of her eyes and parts her cloak in order to pull her hood back. She watches his eyes drift down and shoot back up, a combination of surprise, lust, and emberassment running through him.

"Dude, your a girl."

"You're a hero," she replies, hoping to convey normalcy. "Can you help me?"

"Me? A hero?" He scratches behind one of his pointed ears and visibly perks up. "Well, yeah! I used to work with the doom patrol. Heard of them? Then I decided to go solo, they didn't really get me. I kinda sorta have a partner now. He's--"

"If there was someone I needed to find, but I only had a name and city, how would I go about locating them?"

"Oh, um . . . Have you tried google?"

Raven has a large number of retorts for this response but a chill running up her spine stops her. She whirls around to face what is climbing out of a the ground.

Misreading her actions, the shapshifter catches her shoulder. "Maybe my partner will have some ideas, he does most of that grunt work."

She can tell when the shapshifters sees them because all his emotions are overpowered by primal fear.

The three creatures that are climbing out of the asphalt like it's sand are six feet tall and have arms twice as thick as any human. Their eyes are classic demon-red and have a k-9-like snout and sharp rows of teeth.

"Friends of yours?" he squeaks.

"Run," she says.

"No way."

Surprised, she spares the guy a Glace, reassessing her initial assumptions of him. There is something about his expression that tells her he is indeed a hero.

Raven hates heroes. They never know when to back down. More often than not, it gets them killed. More often than she like to admit, she has to do the killing.

These low-level demons will get the pleasure this time. But this is one heroes death that would be supremely unnecessary.

Raven can handle them no problem, they just need to be kept at bay until the energy keeping them here fades away.

"These guys don't mess around. Trust me kid, just run."

She steps forward, pulling up her hood. "Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" She flings a hand at them, directing a giant fist of black energy. The force of her blow sends the three skidding back a few feet.

The hole in the chest of the middle one begins to close up.

The shapshifter steps forward with her but he is not as stupid as she thought because he transforms into an eagle and flies away.

"I'm coming back with help," he promises.

Raven doesn't bother to acknowledge his promise. Promises, as she has learned, are lies only the stupid fall for. Besides, even heroes have their limits and the demons are surely more than he signed on for.

"I'm guessing my father sent you," she says in a supremely unconcerned tone.

"You are wanted," one of them hisses.

They don't speak in the tongue of humans, theirs is a language often called the Trash Tongue. Only the lowest form of demons speak it. For them to utter another language would be to presume they are anything but the slaves they are.

"You will be returned."

She sprints towards them, catching them off guard, and shoots three pointed spires at them.

"You'll have to kill me first," she says as she watches them flounder. They are pinned on the wall of a building like butterflies in a frame. "Can't do that though, can you?"

She glides forward, shadows writhing free from underneath her cloak. "I'm needed alive. You, not so much."

One of them claws at the black matter speared through its chest and bears its teeth. "We can not die."

She steps between two and grins hideously. "Because you're not fully here. So how do you plan to take me with you?"

A real curiosity. Her father is not a fool. What is point of sending these demons?

The one she turned her back on lashes its tail out at her and she goes flying back, sliding across the asphalt. Damn it. She always forgets about the tails.

The blow broke her concentration, making the spears pinning the demons to the wall dissipate, and she looks up to find them charging her like she did them. The one in the center reaches her first, getting a good hit across her face and another down her thigh before exploding into about a thousand pieces.

Raven didn't make that happen.

After two more flashes of green, the other two demons explode as well.

"Who the hell . . ." Raven blinks, taking in the new comer.

Yeah, someone was going to die tonight. Raven just didn't think it would be herself.


	5. Chapter 5 Nightwing

***months later***

 **I have no excuses.**

 **Chapter 5**

Nightwing

Perched beside a stone statue, Nightwing can see most the entire east side of Jump city. Sometimes he comes up here just to see what he can see but tonight he is here for a specific reason.

The police are reporting a flying person weaving through the streets and soaring over buildings. Any hero coming into another's city usually makes their presence known out of common courtesy. That, paired with his tendency to think of worst case scenarios, has Nightwing waiting to meet this visitor.

The last reported sighting was just a blo-- _there_.

With a well aimed shot of his grappling hook he swings between two buildings before coming down several feet away from a young woman with her back to him.

She tilts her head to the side and seems to be studying the neon letters of the pizza joint a small ways down.

"Visitors are not welcome in this city without my say so," he calls out. "Especially not Metas."

She twirls around to face him and his breath catches. She is nothing short of stunning, even with the strange orange skin and unnaturally green eyes.

She steps forward. "Grom rey ta."

Nightwing dismisses the thought of a meta human and decides she must be alien. "Do you speak English?"

"Ta falja kantot aka," she says, clearly trying to convey something and angrily brushing stray hair away from her face.

When she was flying her hair looked like it was on fire but a closer inspection reveals it to be a hypnotizing combination of pinks and reds fading into yellows and oranges.

"Do you understa--"

Nightwing steps closer and quickly realizes his mistake when she reaches out and yanks him forward with alarming strength.

And then she . . . kisses him.

She shoves him away just as quickly. "What were you saying?"

Batman would be impressed with how quickly Nightwing collects himself. Like it never even happened.

He keeps a tight grip on his staff and says, "Who are you and what are you doing in my city?"

"In your language my name translates to . . . Star . . . Fire." She lifts her chin imperiously. "The rest does not concern you."

"This city is under my protection."

"I am not here to cause the harm."

With how angry she seems to be, he's not inclined to believe her. "Are there more of you?"

Surprisingly, her expression falters. "No. I am . . . the alone." Remembering herself she turns her fierce green eyes on him.

"Why are you here?"

"Your questions are irrelevant. The only thing you need to know is this: I was a protector of innocent on my planet."

Again, he is not inclined to believe her.

She continues, "Is that what you do for this planet?"

"For the city," he corrects. "Yes."

"Then I will help."

"No."

She pulls her shoulders back. "If you are doing the underestimating of me, my honor says I must respond with swiftness. Which of your fingers do you value the least?"

"I work alone."

With supremely bad timing, a green Eagle overhead torpedoes down to them.

"Partner!" Beastboy squawks. "I could really use your help!"

Star Fire looks all manner of offended but Nightwing ignores it and replies, "Not now Beastboy, I'm in the middle of something."

"I need your help! There were these . . . _things_ that crawled out of the ground, three of them. The girl stayed to fight them off but--"

"Where?"

"Seven blocks that way. Come on, we need to hurry!"

"Stay here and watch her," Nightwing instructs.

Beastboy circles them once and morphs into his original shape when he touches down.

"What? No way!" he exclaims. "I promised I'd go back and you didn't see those things. They're monsters! No way you can take them on by yourself!"

Nightwing's instinct to prove people wrong rises in his chest. "Stay. Here."

"You can't boss me around, I don't work _for_ you, I work _with_ you!"

"That's where you're wrong Beastboy. You aren't my partner, no matter how many times you call me that. If I need something that needs doing and I don't have the time, you do it. That's how this relationship works."

Beastboy's bottom lip curls and his fangs become more visible, a sign he's angry. "Yeah, and then if I ever need help you either ignore me or take over my entire mission--like right now!"

Star snaps them to attention by saying, "Can you not hear that? Someone is in trouble."

"Stay here," Nightwing tells her. "I can handle it."

"I will not."

And then she's gone, taking off at a speed neither Nightwing nor Beastboy can match. Still, she's headed in the direction Beastboy pointed out so Nightwing doesn't worry he'll loose her.

Beastboy flies ahead of him and although their argument is done, Nightwing knows it will come again as it has before. Sooner or later, he'll have to cut Beastboy as an asset.

 ** _Starfire_**

Starfire zeroes in on a young woman skidding across the ground. Three animals charge her with full speed. Furious at seeing them attack a helpless girl, the power of her eyes build.

She lets out a war cry as the first one reaches the girl. Thr image reminds Starfire of her own enslavement from the barbaric race that took her planet when she was a child. Filled with righteous fury she decides this first beast will die without the honor of seeing its opponent.

She uses her eye blast directly at the back of its head and it disintegrates. Breathing in the resulting ashes, she dims the energy of her eyes. She faces the other two beasts and they skid to a stop and snarl at her. She hits them with star bolts in quick succession.

The girl on the floor is no older than Starfire is. She seems afraid, staring up at her with wide red eyes and a slack jaw.

Still, she does not seem like a victim. There is something deeper in her eyes that also reminds her of home. The eyes of a killer.

It is confusing when compared to the physical traits of the girl. Her hands are free of any signs of fighting and she hardly has any muscles to speak of.

If she was thrown into a fighting ring she would certainly die.

"Do not fear, friend." She crouches down to examine the girls wounds. "I am here to help. My name is Starfire."

"How did you do that? Those demons don't die so easy," the girl says, pushing herself to her feet without considering her wounds which gush more blood in the process.

"You're injured. Allow me to seal the cuts." Starfire raises a glowing hand, prepared to seal the skin.

"Azar! Are you insane? You are not cauterizing my wounds." The girl adjusts the fall of her cloak and gives Starfire a second look like someone sizing up an opponent.

She is strange indeed.

"Thanks for the help, I guess."

"You are most welcome. What is your name?" Starfire asks, seeing this girl will need more prompting.

"Raven," she says reluctantly. "You can call me Raven."

The transforming bird from before arrives quickly and stares down at the few ashes remaining of their foes. "Woah, dude. Guess you didn't need help after all."

"I told y--" Raven sucks in a sharp breath. "Fuck, fuck, fuck," she whispers.

Starfire looks to the approach of the man who snubbed her. She frowns as she watches Raven hesitate. Her fingers twitch and spark.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos," she mutters under her breath.

Starfire can tell the moment Nightwing sees Raven. He pulls out his staff and approaches her with it outstretched.

Raven pulls up her hood and takes as many steps back as he does forward. Curious at the exchange, Starfire does not interfere.

"The Black Bird of Terror," Nightwing says. "You're unimpressive."

Ravens eyes beneath her hood flare a brighter red, the glow briefly outlining her cheekbones and eyebrows.

Starfire moves away from them both. On her home planet no one is to interfere with the personal quarrels of others. These two obviously have a history.

Nightwing tenses, ready to pounce. The movement is so miniscule that only a trained fight would see it but somehow Raven does. When he lunges she whips a hand up and a black shield takes five consecutive hits, each one driving her back.

In the small space between on hit and the next she drops her shield but he double his speed and gets a good hit in at her stomach before she thrusts out a fist and a larger one springs from nothing and throws him back.

"Stop right there," Raven warns. "Or I'll do something you'll regret." She lifts off the ground and black tendrils dance around her.

Nightwing picks himself up out of some rubble that came down when he hit the side of a building. He clearly does not take her threat to heart.

Raven says, "You're partner has been awful quiet, hasn't he?"

Nightwing whips around and sees what Starfire does.

The muffled sounds Starfire now realizes have been going on for a while come from the shapeshifter who is trapped in a bubble of black matter.

No matter the shape he takes the bubble does not conform, in fact, it is getting smaller by the second.

"Don't worry," Raven says in a bored voice. "As soon as I'm gone he'll be released, but I want you to remember this. I'll kill you both if you come looking for me."

She opens a swirling purple portal to her right, immediately beside Starfire.

Nightwing points a gloved finger at Raven and says, "You're in my city now. There's no where you can go where I won't find you."

"Leave it alone baby bat. You can't beat me. Consider this your only warning."

Raven steps backward through the portal and Starfire glance back, confirming the boy has been released from his shrinking prison and steps through the portal just before it snaps shut.

Raven reminds her of her sister. The good parts, but the bad parts too. Blackfire is lost to her now but maybe she can help Raven in a way she could never help her sister.


	6. Chapter 6 Raven

**Authors Note: Such a long wait for such a short chapter. I'm sorry.**

 **Chapter 6**

 ** _Raven_**

Months of hiding and sleuthing to keep under the radar and now everything is falling apart. The black bird of terror is supposed to be a shadow but somehow Nightwing knew who she was. He knows her face and not only can she not kill him, but he and his partner will be after her.

 _And_ she had to reveal another of her abilities. Teleporting was supposed to be her secret weapon if she was ever in a tight spot but she panicked and they'll plan for it the next time they find her.

She needs to get what she came for and get out of this fucking _city--fast_.

After flying through her portal Raven immediately senses the presence of the angry girl named Starfire. She twirls around in mid air and with a hand her hip demands, "Why are you following me?"

"You need assistance," Starfire reminds her. "You are still bleeding."

Raven glances down at her leg. She was so frustrated she forgot about the pain but now it throbs anew. "I'll heal them myself."

"And I will help," Starfire replies, unperturbed.

"Help by leaving me alone." Raven flies away but Starfire persists and easily keeps up with her speed.

Raven has no doubt this girl can outfly her.

Starfire says, "If you did not want me to follow why did you open the portal beside me?"

"I was going to use you as a human sheild in case Nightwing decided to attack again."

"I am not human," Starfire replies logically.

"Clearly," Raven monotones. "What are you? I've never seen anyone take down a demon with one blast."

No one except her father. She thought for sure Starfire was sent by him to finish her off for good.

"I am Tamaranian."

The planet Tamaran is familiar to Raven only by reputation. One of her brothers was having loads of fun there until almost a year ago when the locals started causing trouble for him intern.

"And what are you?" Starfire prompts, blatantly staring at the talons Raven didn't know had emerged from her finger tips.

Raven turns away and continues her aimless flight. "Not human."

Not anymore.

Raven is most concerned right now with why her father sent three slave demons after her. They're only good for spying and sneaking.

He can't know what she's after. She's been careful. He must have sent the demons to toy with her. Just a scare tactic.

"Why did you and the handsome one argue?" Starfire asks. "He is most stubborn but he is a guardian of the inhabitants of this planet."

"Shouldn't be too hard to figure out," Raven replies with a sigh. "Now leave. I've got shit to do."

"If you are in the trouble with those demons, I am sure he may be able to help. As can I."

Raven curses her own stupidity at giving the creatures a name. "Fuck. You really aren't going to leave, are you?"

"No," Starfire replies. "If those demons return you will need me as the backup since you do not care for this 'Wing of Night.' "

Killing a Tamaranian is easy.

But knowing that this young woman has suffered at the hands of one her brothers makes Raven less willing to simply kill her as she has many others.

So instead, Raven sends her plummeting to the ground miles below them.

Feeling like she's punched a lion, she then flies away as fast as she can before the alien warrior can get up and kick her ass.

 **Beastboy**

It has been a long time since anything has peaked Beastboy's interest.

All his life his parents have given him everything he could ever want and subsequently he now has nothing to strive for because really, it is all within hands reach.

Only catching criminals gives him any sort of thrill--except now, that is. Because that girl was nothing if not interesting.

"What did you call her?" Beastboy asks Nightwing. "The Black Terror?"

"I'm guessing you didn't get her real name then," Nightwing say.

Beastboy sighs. "She was . . . Wait, what's her story? Don't tell me she's a criminal."

"Serial killer," Nightwing replies.

Beastboy deflates as he pictures her face. Of course she's a serial killer. Her eyes were red for crying out loud! But . . . "Maybe you've got the wrong girl."

"Use your head Beastboy. Now tell me everything she said and did. From the beginning."

Beastboy complies, including even his emberassment upon realizing he mistook her as a boy. He also makes a very poor depiction of the creatures on a car windshield. "They looked like this, but picture them more scary--with black smoke around them and _huge_ biceps."

Nightwing studies the picture and nods. "I'll see if anything matches in the database. You're sure they were after her only?"

"Yeah, she said so. Told me to leave. Hey!" He perks up, a thought occuring to him. "Maybe it's these monsters that have been doing the killing and she's trying to stop them! Maybe she's a _good_ witch."

"What makes you say she's a witch?"

Beastboy shrugs. "She dresses like one. Plus, when she started fighting the monsters she said some mystic-y words."

"I'll contact Zatanna and see if she has any tips."

"Fight magic with magic, " Beastboy says, grinning. "Good thinking. What about the other girl?"

"They're more than likely together. See if you can find any sightings of her. She's bound to draw attention." Nightwing drags a hand over his mouth then shakes his head. "And you're absolutely sure she didn't tell you who she's looking for?"

"We didn't get far into the conversation on account of the _monsters_. Shouldn't we be focusing on those things? What if more come?"

"Don't worry about it, just do as your told."

Nightwing leaves before Beastboy can protest.

"Telling me what to do," he mutters to himself.

It's probably time to put this whole 'partners' thing to bed. Going solo is way more cool. There's no one to hog all the attention, no one telling him what to do, and no one to steal all the hot chicks.


	7. Chapter 7 Nightwing

**Chapter 7**

 ** _Nightwing_**

Dick is no stranger to sleepless nights so when the sun rises again, the descision to forgo sleep and get ready for his day job is easily made. It's not crucial for him to have the office open for as long as he does but the routine of it is hard wired in him.

Besides, Alfred says the daily dose of civilian life is good for him. Keeps him from losing sight of who he is. Dick isn't too sure about it, but if it keeps Al from worrying about him then he'll keep doing it. Besides, Dick actually enjoys people, talking with them, being around them.

It's one way he's different from his mentor and he considers it a very defining feature. Of course, lately he hasn't given himself leave to do anything but work, work, work--even when he's at "work."

Coffee.

Leaving his apartment he stumbles into the elevator and applies his debatable obsessive focusing abilities on getting some caffeine.

At the nearest coffee shop he contemplates the menu before asking for a large cup of black coffee. The woman at the register gives him a look but he ignores it.

As he takes a large drink he contemplates switching to something healthier. Enough of his Bat family is already lowkey addicted to the stuff and he isn't keen to add himself to those ranks.

His phone buzzes. Not his civilian phone, his work phone. He doesn't recognize the number but answers anyway.

"How did you get this number?"

"Nightwing, it's Cyborg. Red Wing gave me your number. I'm arriving in Jump city within the hour. I've got a runner."

He doesn't know Cyborg personally and only met him once in an awkward encounter at the Justice League headquarters. Apparently he's being scouted.

Bruce, in his neverending wisdom, though it would be best to not inform Dick at all that Cyborg was being looked at as a potential League member over Dick himself.

"Need backup?"

"No, this one's personal. I am hijacking the cities news outlets though."

From what Dick understands, they're _all_ personal for Cyborg. "Thanks for the heads up."

It's uneventful at his office. The time between customers spans at time over two hours, not that he minds.

He uses the time to do some more digging on the Black Bird of Terror. Everyone has a motive and it'll help him find and capture her. Zatanna has already gotten back to him a deal to use for witches and a set cuffs to render her powerless in transport to prison.

 ** _Raven_**

Raven isn't at all surprised when someone catches up to her as she walks down the sidewalk. This alien has proven extremely difficult to get rid of.

"This planet is most intriguing," Starfire says. "Do all the beings here have gifts of power?"

Raven doesn't reply, still fuming from last night's encounter with the alien. Basically, Starfire kicked her ass. Raven hasn't taken a beating like that since her first year in hell.

When the darkness over came her she actually thought she might have died, but then she woke up, and Starfire was there again--coming back for seconds, Raven presumed.

But the orange woman was sporting a different demeanor than before. She was almost kind. And the bitch cauterized her wounds, insisting it would speed up her healing process.

Were one of Raven's shoulders not dislocated and her other arm not broken, she would have healed herself with magic once she healed up enough with her demon blood.

Raven finally breaks her silence and asks, "Why didn't you kill me?"

"I tried," Starfire replies with such blatant honesty that Raven can't help but respect her. "You heal very quickly."

"Maybe I should kill you then," Raven muses. There is really nothing to stop this girl from trying again. "Especially if you're going to keep following me around."

"For attacking me without warning I was owed one attempt at your life. It's been attempted but shall not be again." She gives Raven a warning glare. "Unless you do something like that again."

"Just leave," Raven tells her and gestures to the sky. "Find a different planet to live on, this one isn't going to be here for much longer."

"If this is true then why do you not leave as well. Why do they all not leave." Starfire watches people as they pass. More than a few blush at her attention, other openly gawk.

Raven laughs. "Nothing is ever that easy. These humans aren't welcome anywhere past their moon. This planet is all they have, it needs to be saved."

"I'll help you save it."

Raven jerks, nearly tripping over her own feet. "Who said I was saving it?"

Starfire smiles but doesn't respond.

"You are reallly testing me," Raven growls.

A man passes them and whistles at Starfire. Who gives him such a demeaning look Raven can feel his confidence plummet.

Raven needs to keep a low profile but since the alien is not showing signs of leaving, she growls and says, "Let's find you some clothes. _Normal_ clothes."

Raven pulls her into the first clothing store she finds; a Forever Twenty One.

Starfire pauses at the entrance and Raven rolls her eyes at the girl's expression. Strfire immediately makes goes to a rack of pink dresses.

"Tell me Raven," Starfire says, "What's going to happen to this planet."

Raven flinches at the use of her own name. No one ever really calls her by name. Her father calls her Daughter, her brothers call her Sister. Cor anyone else to call her woth such familiarity is to invite pain.

"Death for the lucky ones." she replies.

Raven can remember every world she watched her father conquer, every world she helped him conquer. To be in the presence of such power, such raw evil . . .

Starfire nods. "How can I help?"

Raven considers her. "Why do you want to?"

"I am not permitted to return home. Until I am, this is my home and I will not allow it to be destroyed." Starfire pulls out a dress of a relatively simple design; a flare skirt with a halter top. Glitter is coating every inch of it.

Raven points her in the direction of the dressing rooms and considers leaving as soon as she turns the corner but decides to stay. Five times she's ditched her and five times she's returned.

Besides, she will make a good patsy if Nightwing and his idiot partner catch up to her.

Starfire comes bounding out and Raven mentally face palms. She's stunning, and Raven has a feeling she'll make even a paper bag look good. Raven pulls a knitted crop sweater off the rack and hands it to her. It will at least cover her cleavage, for all the good that will do.

Reluctantly intrigued, Raven then asks, "Why can't you go home?"

"I wanted to stop the fighting but Tamaran is a place of might. I was their Queen and they . . ." Starfire pulls on the sweater and glares at nothing. "My own sister wants me dead. They called me weak and tried to execute me."

A Queen? Yes, Raven can see that now. It's in the way she carries herself, in the set of her jaw, and the steel in hers eyes.

Raven blinks and can see the woman who would not be broken by her brother. The woman who sent him running back home to face her father.

"You're not weak."

Starfire lifts her chin and in the waves of anger washing over Raven, there comes a swell of pride aswell.

She has a right to be angry.

Going against the norm is not easy. Raven herself has had brief stints of humanity living in hell. They never lasted long.

In the spirit of appearing normal while dressed as civilians, Raven pays for the clothes with cash rather than mind tricking the woman into thinking Raven had already paid.

Once they've stepped back out onto the street, Raven orients herself and puts them back on track to their destination.

"Now let's get to work. To save this planet, we need one thing: a man named Slade Wilson. Problem is, I have no idea where in this city he is. We need to find him--fast. The days are numbered."

Starfire nods. "How do we find him?"

"No idea," Raven replies, coming to a stop at their destination. "That's what places like this are for."

She points to the sign hanging beside the door of the small building and Starfire reads, "Grayson Investigations."


	8. Chapter 8 Raven

**Chapter 8**

 ** _Raven_**

Even though the office is an attachment of a five story building, Grayson Investigations is nothing more than a glorified closet. There's a filing cabinet in a corner next to a dying potted plant, a television mounted in the other corner behind a desk that's taking up a majority of the small space, and there is also a grand total of one chair in the room--already occupied.

With the chime of the door the young man in said chair looks up from his computer and makes a strange choking sound.

Raven raises an eyebrow at his shock. Honestly, you'd think he's never seen two women before. Granted they do make for an unusual pair.

Starfire looks like a beauty queen fresh off the stage and Raven looks like a grunge goth off the street, pentagram crop top and all.

Maybe he can see her red eyes through her sunglasses.

"Grayson Investigations," he croaks, standing quickly. "How can I help you?"

"I need you to find someone for me."

"Not a problem, give me a name and we can go from there." Grayson grabs the remote for the small television mounted in the corner and turns down the volume.

The action draws Raven's attention to the TV before she can figure out just what it is about this man she doesn't like.

 _". . . where Slade Wilson, local celebrity, is currently hosting a fundraiser,"_ says the man on the TV.

A map of the city then pops up on the screen and a building downtown is highlighted.

Slade Wilson?

"Wait here," Raven says to Starfire, a malicious smile twisting her lips.

Starfire is studying the man--Grayson--intensely. The man doesn't seem to notice her attention as he comes from around the desk when Raven makes for the door.

"Wait, I need a name and number to get in contact with you!"

He has become useless to her so she ignores him and hurries outside. Without worrying about the people who will see, she launches into the air to get a bird's eye view of the city.

The map from the tv is fresh in her mind and she finds the building that was highlighted in the south end of town.

She lands on the steps of a generic one story building and hesitates. Even though it's broad daylight the streets are empty. She reaches out with her empathy and doesn't feel anyone near for miles.

After some debate she decides to go inside anyway. Slade will be here.

Actually, the news said he already was. . .

She was so eager to find Slade she didn't even stop to consider the unlikely coincidence that she would just stumble onto him like this.

Someone wanted her to come here and she doubts it's the doing of her fathers minions. They don't know much past brute strength.

The double doors are chained shut so Raven tugs on it with her powers, snapping the chain off.

The door creaks open and inside is the off white decor of a hospital. Without furniture or people, it's very ominous. At least it's well lit enough with the sun coming through the large windows.

Raven walks through the center hall she assumes will take her right through the center of the building. All her senses are on edge. Her instinct says something is going on here but her empathy says there's no one here.

The only reason she can think to be lured here and have no one waiting when she arrives is maybe someone is planning to take out the whole building with her inside.

Whoever this person is they know she's after Slade Wilson. If they know that, they may also know why she wants him so she continues walking, waiting for some trap to trigger, for an explosion.

Then she has a chilling thought. What if it's one of her brothers? In which case her father knows what she's up to and she's a dead demon walking.

From a hall up ahead a mechanical whir draws her attention.

She watches with growing curiosity as a robot about six feet tall steps onto view. "You're under arrest."

Utterly relieved this problem is human oriented, she quickly takes stock of her situation.

"Not a bad plan, getting me alone and away from civilians I could use against you. Unfortunately I am going to have to kill you."

The robot fires a warning shot but Raven prefers not to dance around problems when she can plow through them. The giant hammer she forms and hurtles at him is not a warning. It sends him skidding down the hall and Raven follows him, the tips of her combat boots skimming the floor.

The robot gets up quickly and that's when she notices it's not just a machine. He charges her, and throws more than a few punches and blasts at her.

"Where is Slade Wilson?"

He laughs. "No idea. I used his name to get you out here. You're going to pay for your crimes. I'm taking you in and you won't see the light of day for a very long time. Brian will get his justice."

"Am I supposed to know who that is?"

"You didn't even know his name? You killed him!"

"You really are going to need to be more specific," she says, pulling off her sunglasses, they're ruined anyways. "I've killed a lot of people."

"Sun city museum. The curator's name was Brian."

Raven almost laughs at that. This man is causing her so much trouble because of one lowly human? It's ridiculous. "Why do you even care? You're not even one of them." She dodges a blast. "I can barely sense your life force. More machine than man these days."

With a roar he attacks her with renewed vigor. Heroes are so stubborn, it must be part of the job requirements. Another hero meeting his end by her hand. Much like Terra--the last hero she killed--he isn't going down without a fight.

"You know I think I do remember him. He died without pride, crying and begging."

"You're a monster."

"You know all about that, don't you? I bet children hide when they see you."

She hit a nerve. He is more skilled that she gave him credit for in the beginning but it wasn't a problem until right now. His next blow knocks her off her feet and she can taste blood on her tongue.

"You're going to die for that," she growls, taking three long strides toward him. Her shadows wrap around his limbs and suspend him in the air. "Can you feel pain, metal man?"

He doesn't respond. A canon takes the place of his mechanical arm and it locks onto her, taking only a second to power up. Raven reacts quickly, dodging as it fires and using her shadows to rip the arm clean off his body.

It clatters to the ground and the man strains to see where it landed.

Raven catches a few drops of the oil leaking from his shoulder socket. She waits for a semblage of pain to manifest but the metal man shows only hatred in his expression. His emotions are nonexistent to her empathy.

"You don't feel pain, you don't bleed. Are you sure you're a man at all?"

In one go she disassembles his metal limbs, the pieces clattering to the ground. Down an arm and two legs he's no longer a threat so she releases him from her clutches.

She looms over his fallen form. "God damned heroes. I don't know why you guys even bother."

Just as she prepares for a final blow, the sensation of falling slams into her gut. Her senses are taken hostage by one of her many abilities: premonitions.

It's just an image, really. One she's seen before.

She's staring at a sunset. She knows there are people to the left of her, four of them. The first time Raven saw this image it cut off here, leaving her with a feeling she had never felt before. This time though, she turns and can see their faces, frozen for this tiny moment.

Time resumes, and Raven is jerked back to reality. Her hand is primed with magic but she gasps and steps back, staring at the metal man.

He was in her vision.

" _Fu_ _ck._ "

She glares at the pieces of him and picks up his metal knee joint for examination. How the hell is she going to put him back together?

"Step away from him," the cool voice of Nightwing says.

She whirls around and he levels his staff so it's hovering an inch away from her throat.

"Wait." With a wave of her hand she has his staff sailing away and clattering to the ground. "You need to--"

Nightwing flips backwards and shouts,"Now, Beastboy!"

Raven quickly reaches out with her senses but doesn't feel another presence. Puzzled, she watches a shadow on the ground grow. She follows it to its source and looks up, up, up.

A dinosaur . . . and it's foot is coming down too fast to stop.

 _It's a dinosaur_.

 ** _Nightwing_**

In retrospect, Nightwing should have known Cyborg was after the Black Bird of Terror. She was in his city before coming here and Cyborg has just the right amount of stubborn determination to chase her.

Beastboy shift out of his t-rex form and let's out a whoop. "Dude! Did you see that? I was HUGE! I've never turned into something so big before, that was amazing! The strength was unbel--"

"Beastboy," Nightwing snaps. "Check on Cyborg."

Clamping his mouth shut, Beastboy scrambles to do as he's told and Nightwing turns his attention to the young woman on the floor.

She can't be more than eighteen years old.

He clips a metal band around each of her wrists before checking for her pulse and examining her for any major injuries. Blood is smeared down the side of her face but the bleeding has already slowed to a stop. He wipes away the blood with a gloved hand and sees her cut is already clotting.

"Beastboy, how's he looking over there?"

"Just get me to a lab or something and I can pull myself back together," Cyborg says. "That monster is mine Nightwing. She has to answer for her crimes back in Sun city."

Nightwing doesn't even look at him. "Help him out Beastboy, I've got to get this girl secured."

"No problem! Here, I've got your arm and your foot and your . . . kneecap? And--oh sorry." Beastboy grins sheepishly and scrambles to pick up the arm he dropped and stepped on.

It doesn't escape Cyborg's notice that Nightwing didn't acknowledge what he said but he's got to pull himself together first so he lets it go for now, watching Nightwing take away the cloaked monster and leaving him in the hands of a little green shapeshifter.

Nightwing takes the Black Bird of Terror to his home base. It's not ideal but for the moment he decides this will be the best place to keep her contained.

On the floor he has a seal drawn out in chalk, courtesy of Zatanna. The Black Bird of Terror has proven to be very capable and possesses many magical abilities so the runes etched on this seal will keep the witch unconcious and dormant until he can decide what to do with her.

Without ceremony he sets her down in the circle and once he steps out of it again the white chalk lines light up yellow and dance around her, forming a dome.

He calls Beastboy to see how he's handling the task left for him. Beastboy is irritated about getting checked up on but he quickly drops it when he remembers about the witch he stepped on.

"I didn't hurt her too bad, did I?" Beastboy asks.

"No, you did good. She's perfectly find and I've got her secured. She's not going anywhere any time soon."

Nightwing casts a glance at the unconscious witch.

The seal flickers. He frowns.


End file.
